Hiding With Your Eyes Shut
by Dearly-divided
Summary: When a horrific accident lands Cosette in the hospital, Eponine is forced to face the possibility of life without the one she loves more than anything else.


Eponine looked like a mess. She was wearing sweatpants and her oldest (and comfiest) hoodie, her hair, which she hadn't bothered brushing that morning, was tied up in a messy bun and she was covered from head to toe in splotches of various shades of red and blue paint.

She also couldn't wipe the smile off of her face.

She was almost finished! Two months she'd spent on this painting, slaving away when Cosette left for university and after she'd gone to bed at night, or whenever she found inspiration, really. Normally she finished her paintings much quicker, but this one had to be perfect. She'd spent hours upon hours trying to perfect Cosette's face because the smile was a little off, or her eyes didn't sparkle like they did in reality. She didn't care so much about her own appearance in the painting, but it needed to be perfect for Cosette. It was her present for their third anniversary after all.

It was a little silly maybe, but she knew that Cosette would just love it.

Eponine had kept it well concealed, and while Cosette had known she was hiding something (she really was far too intuitive for her own good), she'd let Eponine keep her secrets. She only painted in her studio, hiding the painting in the spare bedroom whenever Cosette came home.

As she was stood back and marvelled at her labour of love the sound of the doorbell rang through the home. Eponine frowned, she knew it wasn't Cosette because she had her own keys, nor was it any of their friends, for they didn't bother knocking.

Ever.

It had been the cause of many an awkward situation in the past, and also the reason that they had installed a lock on their bedroom door.

With a small frown she carefully put away her paintbrush and her palette down and went to go answer the door.

Figuring that it was either a travelling salesman or, god forbid, Jehovah's Witness, Eponine threw the door open with a 'thanks but no thanks' at the ready. Her words, however, died on her lips as she stared at the man before her.

Inspector Javert stood stone faced in the snow, his normally pristine uniform covered in blood.

Eponine felt her heart stop.

"No," she gasped.

Her hands gripped at the edges of the doorframe, desperately trying to keep herself upright. She couldn't feel her legs beneath her, or her arms for that matter. It felt like she couldn't breathe, much less think properly. All she could see was the blood on his shirt and hope to god that it wasn't Cosette's.

"Eponine, come with me. We have to go," Javert said, reaching out for her as if she was a frightened animal. Perhaps she was.

She tried to say something, but all that came out was a chocked sob. She kept waiting for him to deny it, to reassure her that it wasn't what she thought, but all he did was stare at her with that same pained expression on his face.

Her stomach churned, and the only thought that ran through Eponine's head was that she was about three seconds away from violently throwing up.

"I'm gonna be sick," she muttered between panicked breaths.

Then, without warning, her eyes fluttered shut and she dropped like a stone.

"Eponine? Eponine!" Javert cried, stepping forward to catch her.

It was too late; Eponine was unconscious before she hit the ground.

xXx

When she next opened her eyes Eponine found herself buckled into the seat of Javert's police car. Vaguely she recalled that the last time she'd been in here, she was sitting in the back seat in handcuffs.

And then the horror of what had happened washed over her.

"What happened? I-is she o-okay?" her voice cracked as she felt the familiar sting of tears in her eyes.

Javert was focused on the road in front of him. It was only now that she was truly able to look at him, not the blood on his shirt. His grey eyes were bloodshot and ringed in red, his hands were wrapped so tightly around the steering wheel that they were white. He was also shaking. Not the full-blown tremors that had rocked her moments before she passed out, but shaking nonetheless.

"I was called in to the scene of an accident today. A, um, a car took a corner too quickly and skidded on the ice. The driver lost control of the car and it –it collided with a bus in the next lane. The bus spun out into oncoming traffic and…and…" he broke off with a chocked gasp.

"And Cosette? She… she was on the bus?"

Javert nodded, staring straight ahead.

"Oh god! Oh god, oh god," Eponine rocked back and forth in her seat, crying softly.

Javert offered no words of comfort, he didn't even seem to acknowledge that she was speaking at all. Maybe he was lost in his own grief, or maybe he just didn't give a shit about her pain. Either way, the rest of the car trip passed in uncomfortable silence, save for Eponine's sobs.

To be truthful, Eponine didn't remember parking the car or walking up to the hospital. One minute she was in the car, the next she was sitting in a shitty plastic seat in the waiting room.

She still didn't know what was wrong with Cosette. She tried to ask Javert, or the pretty nurse that walked by, but every time she opened her mouth she couldn't find the courage to say the words. She knew, knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Cosette was in bad shape. She also knew that it was likely she was in surgery otherwise they would be allowed to see her.

But if she asked someone they would tell her the truth. They would explain everything that had happened to her, and it would make it real. So she kept her mouth shut and stared vacantly at the muted television, waiting.

Perhaps twenty minutes later Valjean walked in carrying a bag full of food. He looked like shit, but then again, didn't they all? When he caught sight of his husband, Javert leapt from his seat and ran to Valjean, crushing him in a tight embrace.

Valjean completely broke down in his husband's arms.

"Hey, it's gonna be okay. She'll pull through this," Javert said, kissing Valjean's cheek.

"I can't lose her," he sobbed, clutching desperately at Javert's sleeves.

"We won't, Cosette's not going anywhere, okay? Look at me!" He grabbed Valjean's jaw and forced him to meet his eyes, "Our little girl's going to make it."

Eponine almost believed him. She also had a sneaking suspicion he almost believed himself. But the man standing there holding Valjean was not the same man that had been in the car with her.

 _That_ man had been terrified. This one was pretending not to be for the sake of his family.

Eponine hated Valjean in that moment, hated that he had the love of his life to hold him and tell him that everything was going to be all right, even if there was a very real chance that it wouldn't be.

Why had she been on that stupid bus anyway? Eponine knew Cosette's schedule like the back of her hand, and on Tuesdays Cosette had classes from ten till four. She shouldn't have been on that bus.

Why had she been on that bus?

Hours passed in mind numbing haze. At some point Javert shoved a sandwich and a cup of coffee into her hands, but they tasted like sawdust.

How much longer would she be in surgery?

Eventually Eponine lost all sense of time.

Had it been mere minutes or hours that had crawled by? She'd stopped checking her watch when she'd realised that it wasn't going to make time go any quicker.

Every time a doctor stepped into the room her heart leapt into her throat and she went to stand, but every single _fucking_ time they walked straight past her to someone else. As she looked around the room she saw the same worry and fear in everyone else's faces.

Were they the families of the other victims?

So far two people had lost someone, one family's son was going to make it, though he would never walk again, and one lucky, lucky fucker was gonna be just A-Okay.

Eponine hated all of them.

The longer she sat there, the more bad news that was delivered to the strangers around her, the more fear and doubt crept into her mind.

Cosette was without a doubt the single greatest thing that had ever happened to her.

Not in the sappy 'oh she's just so wonderful' way, but in a 'she literally changed my life for the better' way. Before she'd met Cosette, Eponine had been an absolute catastrophe.

Of course, at the time she was under the assumption that her life was fine and that spending every night at some shitty party getting absolutely wasted was a perfectly reasonable thing to do.

Her roommates disagreed.

At the time she'd been renting a place with Enjolras and Marius, and while they both loved her dearly, even they had their limits.

So when Marius announced he was bringing his new 'friend' (aka woman he fancied himself in love with) to Musain's that night to meet the group, they'd both begged her to behave herself.

She'd been insulted to say the least.

Despite that she'd made an effort, because while they'd made it clear that she was an embarrassment, they were her friends. They had taken her in when everyone else had turned their backs on her and she owed them big time for that.

Plus, she figured that Marius needed all the help he could get in the dating department.

She'd started the night off with good intentions but those good intentions went to shit when Grantaire had offered her a drink to 'get the night started'. By the time Marius and Cosette had turned up she was well on her way to being entirely shit faced.

That should have been the end of it. Once Marius had noticed her current state of intoxication he'd tried his hardest to keep Cosette away from her, instead introducing her to Courfeyrac, Combeferre and Jehan and literally anyone else he remotely knew.

From her seat at the bar she watched as the blonde princess mingled. Never in her entire life had Eponine ever seen someone so at ease with her ragtag bunch of friends.

Within an hour of being there she was sitting beside them, joking around as if they'd been friends for years! Even Enjolras, who by all rights should have detested her because she was an unneeded 'distraction from the cause', was smitten with her. It was like they were 'besties' already!

It had taken her _months_ to gain that sort of camaraderie with him!

It was unnatural.

Meanwhile she was sitting alone at the bar, entirely ignored by the people she supposedly called friends. Except of course for the pretty blonde, who, every time she was caught staring, smiled warmly at her.

Fucking Disney Princess.

Several beers later Eponine began to regret her decision to spend the night drinking. A few more after that and she was rushing to the bathroom to go throw up.

Coincidentally it was at that moment that Cosette had excused herself from the group to go the ladies room.

She'd taken one look at Eponine bent over a toilet, heaving her guts up and immediately knelt down beside her, pulling her hair back and gently rubbing her back, murmuring soothing things into her ear.

Cosette stayed by her side until Eponine was done. After that she'd helped her to her feet and after a short argument with Eponine, she'd called a cab for the both of them.

To be truthful Eponine didn't really remember much else about that night. She'd woken up the next morning in Cosette's bed. Five minutes later the girl in question had appeared in the doorway with a freshly cooked 'hangover' breakfast.

It was hard to hate her after that.

After a few weeks Eponine had realised that she was in love with Cosette. She also realised that there was no way in hell that a train wreck like herself deserved someone like Cosette. So she picked up her game, quit drinking, quit smoking, quit petty thievery (old habits die hard).

It wasn't easy, and sometimes she hated Cosette for inadvertently pushing her to be better, but she did it, and somewhere along the way she and Cosette ended up together.

Marius had been mortified.

If she lost Cosette she'd lose everything. Life without Cosette by her side would be meaningless. Empty. Ugly.

A dull ringing snapped her out of her thoughts and back into reality. It took her a moment to realise it was her phone, and another few seconds for her to answer it.

"Hello?" she answered, silently cringing at the rough, raspy sound of her voice.

"Hey Ponine." Grantaire. He sounded extremely hung over. Fantastic. "Super quick question, do you know where Cosette's at? I asked her to come meet me a few hours ago and she hasn't turned up…" he trailed off, waiting, no doubt, for Eponine to provide an explanation.

Eponine felt her gut clench painfully. No, it couldn't be.

"Why?" she grit out, drawing the attention of Javert who was sitting beside her.

"Why what? Are you okay? You sound bloody awful-"

"Why did you ask her to come over?" Eponine forced out, clutching the plastic arm of her chair so tightly she was surprised it didn't break under the strain.

Grantaire sighed tiredly, "Enjolras walked out again last night, and, you know, Cosette's his best friend I figured-"

Eponine cut him off with an angry screech. "You called her over to sort out your fucking relationship problems?!"

Now Eponine most certainly had the attention of everyone in the waiting room.

"Whoa, calm the fuck down!" Grantaire said, "I don't see what the big deal is-"

"SHE WAS IN A FUCKING BUS ACCIDENT YOU FUCKING BASTARD!" It was like someone had opened the floodgates. Once she'd started she couldn't stop, it all came pouring out in a shrieking, terrifying torrent. "COSETTE WAS ON THAT FUCKING BUS BECAUSE OF YOU! SHE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE IN CLASS! YOU SELFISH FUCKING PRICK! SHE-" A sob clawed its way up her throat and she gasped for breath.

Just like that all her anger, her pent up rage just exploded within her and she lost control. She wanted to scream, to hurt something, anything to take away from the pain she was feeling.

As much as she wanted to continue screaming at Grantaire but she could barely get a word out between her sobs.

Javert, now standing in front of her, gently eased the phone out of her hands and with one worried glance at her began to speak softly into the phone. She couldn't hear a single word that he said over her gasps and shuddering cries.

Valjean sat down in Javert's empty seat and after only a moment's hesitation, placed a comforting arm around her shoulder, gently pulling her against him. It was Cosette's arms she really wanted to be in, but she didn't have the strength to resist anymore.

Eponine cried in his arms for a long time, and neither he nor Javert said a word about it.

There was still no word about Cosette's condition.

That had to be a good thing, right?

It meant that she was fighting, that she hadn't given up.

It meant that she was alive.

 _Please don't leave me._

After a while Javert left to go grab some more coffee.

He'd only returned with three steaming cups, handing one to Valjean and one to her.

When she took a sip and tasted warm, creamy hot chocolate instead of the bitter coffee she'd been expecting she looked up at him with confusion.

He shrugged. "Cosette always liked it better," he offered, avoiding her gaze as he returned to his seat.

Eponine almost smiled.

It wasn't a magical cure, but it certainly helped a little.

 _Please come back to me._

She'd only drunk about half of it when she heard someone shouting in the hallway.

"Where the hell is she?!" a familiar voice growled out.

"Sir, please calm down or I will have you and your friends escorted off the premises." A woman's voice said, though the threat came out weakly. Probably a nurse, Eponine figured.

The voices were coming closer.

"Tell me, or I swear to god," the voice she now recognised as Enjolras' continued.

"You really should do what he says…" Another voice, Courfeyrac's, added.

The woman sighed, "Miss Fauchelevent is still in surgery. As you are not immediate family that is all I can tell you. However you are more than welcome to wait in there with her family if you would like."

A harried looking nurse stepped into the waiting room, followed shortly after by Enjolras, Courfeyrac, Marius and lastly Grantaire.

Eponine leapt from her seat at the sight of them and in two strides found herself enveloped in a massive bear hug, first by Courf, then Marius and Enjolras. Grantaire stood awkwardly in the background, but for the moment Eponine ignored him, leaning gladly into her friends arms.

"Thank god you're here," she whispered softly as they broke apart.

"How're you holding up?" Enjolras asked, somewhat awkwardly. Despite being friends for a long time, it was Cosette he had a real affinity with, not her.

"I'm okay-" she began, but with one disapproving look from the trio she sighed, "I'm really fucking scared."

"Buttercup's gonna be just fine, you'll see," Courfeyrac added, nodding wisely.

Buttercup was his own personal nickname for Cosette, where it had come from and why on earth Cosette responded to it was a mystery to them all. Once, in a moment of slight intoxication, Jehan had called Cosette Buttercup and Courfeyrac had shot him the filthiest glare that no one had ever dared used it since.

Eponine smiled fondly at Courf, ever the optimist.

"Everyone knows… They all wanted be here, Joly and Bossuet even left class to come, but my car only had so many seats…" Marius said. "Plus, we kinda figured that if all of us turned up the hospital might not let us in." He attempted a smile, but it fell woefully short.

"I suppose not," Eponine said.

"But 'Chetta said that they were gonna hold a candlelight vigil at Musain's. So, you know, everyone's thinking about her," Courf added.

Again, she smiled; she would never, ever doubt her friends' utter devotion to Cosette. It truly was impossible not to love that girl.

"How long has she been in surgery?" Enjolras asked as the trio moved further into the waiting room and sat down.

Thankfully, most of the other families had already left, meaning that instead of sitting awkwardly next to Cosette's parents, she could now sit among her friends opposite them. Marius, Courf Enjolras all nodded in acknowledgement to Javert and smiled at Valjean before sitting beside her, Enjolras to her left, Marius on her right and Courfeyrac next to him.

Pointedly, she ignored Grantaire as he shuffled in behind them and took the seat next to Enjolras. She did however note that Enjolras didn't exactly acknowledge him either.

Eponine checked her watch; it was now 4:30, "Five and a half hours I suppose."

Enjolras nodded, contemplating her words. She suspected that, much like herself, he couldn't figure out whether that was a good thing or not.

They lapsed into silence. It wasn't exactly a comfortable one, but Eponine did feel marginally better with her friends by her side. At some point Marius had slipped his hand into hers, while her head had somehow ended up on (of all people) Enjolras' shoulder. Courfeyrac, who must have been feeling lonely, had risen from his seat and chosen to sit instead on the ground in front of Eponine, leaning back against her legs.

No one, not even the nurses said anything about the strange assortment in the waiting room, though there were a few disapproving looks directed at poor Courfeyrac.

It was another hour at least before a tired looking doctor in surgical scrubs stepped into the waiting room. Eponine's heart leapt into her throat and she, along with her friends, all straightened up.

"Family of miss Fauchelevent?" he asked, gazing around the waiting room.

Instantly both Javert and Valjean stood up.

The doctor eyed them strangely, "Which one of you is the father?"

Javert's eyes darkened as he scowled, "We _both_ are." As if to prove his point he very deliberately slipped his hand into his husbands.

"Oh, right, right, of course," the doctor said, though he still looked mildly uncomfortable with the prospect.

Valjean frowned, "Do you have news?" _Or did you just come to gawk?_

"Oh, yes. Right. Well Cosette made it through the surgery okay, but she still in critical condition. There was extensive internal bleeding, but thankfully the pole missed most of her vital organs when it impaled her."

Eponine felt sick. _Impaled?_

"We were able to reset the breaks in her arm as well, which is good. However, when the most troubling thing was her head wound. It appears that when the bus overturned she hit her head quite hard and she sustained a skull fracture. A minor consolation is that the fracture is only on the surface so it's not pressing on her brain…" the doctor trailed off uneasily.

"And," prompted Javert.

"But, with that much force it's possible she has a concussion, or even potential brain damage. We won't know how bad the damage is until she wakes up, if she doesn't slip into a coma, that is."

"So she's not awake yet?" Eponine piped up before either of the men could speak.

The doctor turned to her, a disapproving frown upon his face, "Your _friend_ is still unconscious, both from the trauma and from the anaesthetic we used to keep her under during surgery. If all goes well, she should be up in the next few hours or so, but it'll be touch and go until then."

Unable to resist Eponine glowered at the doctor, "She's my girlfriend, you fucking asshole."

He ignored that last comment, turning back to face Valjean and Javert. "She's currently in the ICU. You can go visit her if you'd like, but no more than two people at a time. I take it you two will go first?" he asked.

Both men nodded.

"Right then, follow me." He led them both out of the room.

Eponine didn't know whether to feel relieved or terrified. Cosette was alive, which was absolutely fantastic, but she sounded like she was in terrible condition. _Impaled, brain damage, internal bleeding…_ the words spun round and around in her head until she thought she would be sick!

"Hey!" Courfeyrac's voice shattered through her reverie. Tiredly she looked up to find him glaring at her from his seat on the floor. "Cosette's alive, forget about everything else, okay? She's _alive_!" he stressed.

"Did you not hear him? She's still critical!" Eponine hissed, though she felt a pinch of guilt when Courf gave her the kicked puppy look.

"She could still die…" she whimpered.

This time it was Enjolras who spoke, "She won't, all right? She didn't die in surgery, she won't die now."

She hated how confidently he spoke, as if it was an absolute certainty that Cosette would be okay. It was the same stupid tone he used at his rallies, trying to convince people that they could actually change things if they tried hard enough. It was bullshit then and it was bullshit now.

"Shut up, for fucks sake! You don't know anything, none of us do!" she snapped.

Enjolras' blue eyes hardened, but before he could say anything to defend himself, Grantaire jumped in.

"Don't talk to him that way! Jesus, Ponine! I get that you're scared but that doesn't give you the right to be such a fucking bitch!"

Silence.

Marius, dear, sweet Marius tried to salvage the situation, "Hey, maybe we should all just take a deep breath an-"

"How fucking dare you!" Eponine cut him off, violently jumping to her feet. "It's your fault she's in here, and if she dies, it'll be your fucking fault!" Without taking a moment to think of the consequences of her words Eponine turned on her heel and stormed out of the waiting room.

She needed fresh air, so ignoring all the weird looks she got she ran through the corridors of the hospital until she found an exit.

The second she stepped outside she took a deep breath, relishing in the cold, crisp winter air.

She was entirely unaware that someone had followed her.

"Eponine?"

She spun around to find Grantaire standing awkwardly behind her, his hands shoved into the pockets of his oversized coat. "I'm sorry, alright? I didn't know, I couldn't have! Do you think I wanted this? I love Cosette, she's like a little sister to me," his hoarse voice cracked.

Normally Eponine would have softened under that tone. The look on his face was utterly miserable, but Eponine was beyond pity.

"Do you think I give a shit? I don't care that you didn't want it to happen, because guess what? It fucking happened anyway!"

"This isn't my fault!"

Eponine felt the rage surge through her bloodstream like water bursting from a dam. "Isn't your fault? ISN'T YOU FAULT?!" She flew at him with her hands balled into fists, ready to kill.

Grantaire, who was many things but never violent, barely had time to react as Eponine's fist made contact with his left cheek. She would have hit him again had a pair of arms not wrapped themselves around her waist and wrenched her away from him.

"Stop it! Eponine, calm the fuck down!" Javert yelled as Eponine struggled against his iron tight grip.

"Let me go!" she said, thrashing violently. For such a small thing she certainly had some serious strength.

"Eponine, it's not his fault, okay? It was an accident. Now stop fighting me!" Javert hissed into her ear.

Instantly, like a marionette whose strings had been cut, she fell slack against Javert. "Good girl," he murmured.

Then, without warning, Eponine began to cry. Her entire body shook, but she didn't utter a sound as the tears fell silently from her eyes.

It was like that one punch had drained all the fight left in her. She was empty and it was agony.

"Take a deep breath, Eponine. Do you want to go see Cosette now?" he asked, his voice surprisingly gentle.

Wordlessly she nodded.

"Come on then," he said, gently helping her to her back inside. He walked her the entire way to the ICU. Before she could step into Cosette's room, however, she stopped him.

"How can you not hate him?" she whispered.

She didn't understand how this man, who hated her simply for loving his beloved daughter, could not despise Grantaire for what he had done.

"Will hating him make Cosette better? If I beat the crap out of him, will she magically wake up?"

She didn't respond, so he continued, "It was a freak accident, Eponine. A car slipped on the ice, are you going to hate the driver of that car? Are you going to blame the weather? What about the bus driver himself?"

"But she wouldn't have been there if he hadn't asked her to come," Eponine retorted, though it sounded far weaker than she had originally intended.

Javert studied her with those cold, grey eyes of his and sighed, "That's true. But she was trying to be a good friend. Grantaire had no possible way of knowing this would happen; blaming him will do you no good. He didn't force her to come she chose to go of her own free will. Do you really want to spend the rest of your life hating your friend for something entirely outside of his control?"

"I just want her back," she whimpered.

"So do I, kid," he said softly, and for the first time ever, he put his arm around her in an awkward sort of half hug. It was strange, but also kind of nice, Eponine thought.

"How are you so okay with this?" she asked when he finally dropped his arm.

He sighed deeply, and then spoke, "When the ambulances finally turned up this morning they had to physically pull Cosette, broken, bleeding and unconscious from my arms. I am very much not okay. But as much as I want to scream and curl up into a ball and drink myself into oblivion I don't get that option. Jean needs me, and _you_ , whether you want to admit it or not, need me too. She," he jabbed his finger at Cosette's door, "needs me to look after you two. Now go," he said, giving her a gentle push towards the door.

Walking into that room was perhaps one of the most horrifying moments of Eponine's life.

For someone who always seemed to shine like the sun, Cosette looked surprisingly lifeless lying in that godforsaken bed. If it hadn't been for the steady beeping on the machines and the ever so tiny movements of her chest, Eponine might have thought she was dead.

She might as well have been. She was covered in bandages, one on her arm, another wrapped around her midsection, presumably where she'd been impaled. Her face, her gorgeous, beautiful face was littered with tiny cuts, and there was a rather deep gash on her forehead. She was pale, too, no doubt from the blood-loss. She just looked so damn fragile lying on that bed, as if a slight gust of wind would tear her apart.

Eponine hated it. Her Cosette was strong, unbreakable… And yet there she was, broken. But as fragile as she looked, Eponine couldn't resist pressing a gentle kiss on her cheek.

"Please wake up, please. I need you," she whispered softly, squeezing her eyes shut in an attempt to hold back her tears.

Of course Cosette didn't wake up. This wasn't a fairy tale. But Eponine sat down in the seat beside her bed and held her hand nonetheless.

It was funny, in a somewhat depressing way, that despite how death-like Cosette looked her pulse was still strong. Her girl was a fighter.

"I'm so goddamned angry at you right now," Eponine said with a hollow laugh. "Why did you have to go? For fuck's sake, Cosette! Why do you always do this? Every time Courf or Bahorel or Combeferre or Enjolras or fucking Grantaire calls you go running!" Eponine sobbed. "And look where it's got you!"

Cosette slept on, oblivious to the all the pain surrounding her. It would have looked peaceful if she hadn't looked so wraith-like.

Taking a deep sigh Eponine brushed the tears from her cheek. Yelling would do no good, so perhaps threatening her might.

"I swear to god Cosette, if you die I will literally resurrect you just so I can bloody well murder you again! You can't leave me, okay? I'm not done with you yet. I need you, Cosette… Please wake up."

She would sit here and beg all day and all night if that's what it took. Eponine was fairly sure that she would do anything if it meant that Cosette was going to be okay.

"I love you and I'm sorry that I'm such a terrible person. I'm sorry for everything I've ever done, or that I'll ever do. God knows how you put up with me," she said with a strangled sob. "I know I don't deserve you, but I can't lose you. Come back to me, please Cosette."

Cosette's hand trembled in hers and for a moment Eponine felt her heart soar with joy. She was waking up!

But as Eponine's eyes flickered to her face, she knew that something wasn't right. Cosette's eyes were still shut. Then she noticed that it wasn't just her hand that was shaking, it was her entire body. What had started off as little tremors grew until Cosette was violently thrashing around on the bed, still unconscious. Eponine screamed for help as the various machines attached to her girlfriend began to go haywire, beeping out of control.

A group of nurses and doctors came barrelling into the room, shoving her aside and shouting at each other. She couldn't discern the words over her own hysterical cries.

Eventually one of the nurses grabbed her arm and as gently as she could, dragged Eponine away from Cosette's room. The nurse led her back through the hallway down to the waiting room and left her at the door, promising to return if there was any news.

Numbly, Eponine walked back inside the waiting room. Every pair of eyes snapped up to look at her and from the devastated look on her face they knew something horrible had happened. Both Valjean and Javert were out of their seats the minute she walked in.

"What happened?" Javert asked with a hint of panic.

"She uh, she started seizing, I don't… I'm not… " she trailed off uncomfortably. Her brain wasn't working and try as she might she couldn't get the horrifying image of Cosette flopping like a fish on the bed out of her head.

Then surprisingly she found herself locked in a sandwich hug, with Valjean on one side and, stranger still, Javert on the other. Eponine found that, as strange as it was, she didn't mind it. It was comforting, nice even.

xXx

The next two days were long. Eponine alternated between the hospital, her friend's places and Musain's, returning back to the apartment only when she was absolutely desperate for sleep. It hurt to be on her own, so she spent as much time around her friends and Cosette's family as she could. No one, not even Javert, seemed to mind this unspoken arrangement.

But no matter how much it hurt, nothing could keep her away from Cosette's bedside for long. It was perhaps the one time when she didn't mind being by herself, though she was rarely alone there either. Normally she didn't mind, but when Grantaire stepped inside Cosette's room with two coffees in his hand she stood up and went to walk out of the room.

She wouldn't begrudge him the time to see Cosette, but that didn't mean she was going to sit with him while he did it!

"Wait, Ponine, please don't go," he said, hastily placing the coffees on Cosette's bedside table. "I need to talk to you."

"Really, R? You want to do this right now?" she snapped.

Grantaire shrugged, "Well fuck, where else am I supposed to talk to you? You avoid me like the plague at Musain's, flat out ignore me at my own apartment when you come to see the Enjolras and Marius! I get it you're pissed, but for fucks sakes how many times do I have to say I'm sorry!"

Eponine snorted, "Right, of course. I forgot that you saying sorry a few times makes everything magically better!"

"I made a mistake! I had no idea that this," he gestured wildly to Cosette's bed, "Would happen." Tears appeared in his eyes, and with a shuddering gasp he collapsed down onto the chair opposite Eponine. "Fuck Eponine, I just wanted him back. You wanna know the really fucked up part? After he found out about the accident he came back. He was so torn up that he just forgave everything. All the drinking, the fighting, everything…"

And then he gave her the most broken smile she'd ever seen.

"I'm sorry, Eponine. I'm so fucking sorry."

Eponine sighed, easing herself back down into her seat. "We're a pretty fucked up pair, aren't we?"

"Yep."

They sat in silence after that, both watching Cosette, praying that she would finally wake up.

 _Please, Cosette._

 _Please._


End file.
